Despite supporting Ipswich since our next door neighbour in Felixstowe took me at the end of the Ramsey era, I have affections for two other clubs.

As a child and teenager living in London, I did what my father had done in his youth and regularly went to see Spurs at White Hart Lane.

My father would tell stories about how he was at the Cup Final in 1921 and how before the Great War, his father would take them to the game in a pony and trap. My grandfather would give a kid a shilling to hold the horse’s head during the match.

Then in the 1960s at Liverpool University, I regular went to see both of the Liverpool clubs, although I identified more with Liverpool.

Perhaps because inh those years they played the better football and were more successful!

So who do I want to win the Manchester Derby?

Certainly not United, as in the 1950s, I lived next door to the most obnoxious United supporter, who rammed them down mine and my father’s throats at every opportunity.

I actually think, that both Spurs and Liverpool, would be happy with an extremely hard-fought goal-less draw at Old Trafford tonight!

I was just twelve, when I watched Wolves beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0 in the 1960 Cup Final. Like many of the finals of that era, there was a serious injury to a player, which reduced Blackburn to ten men, as substitutes weren’t allowed. The Blackburn player was Dave Whelan.

Today, he was the Chairman and major shareholder of Wigan Athletic, as they beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup.

I picked up the Standard tonight as I often do, and this article by Patrick Barclay caught my eye. Here’s the first paragraph.

When Sheikh Mansour took over Manchester City, I suggested that his best route to the top of English football would be to buy and disband Manchester United, acquiring as many of their players as were wanted, then paint Old Trafford blue and use it as a training ground. Fortunately, the Sheikh and his Abu Dhabi associates preferred more constitutional methods.

But something must be done to create a fairer playing field, where rich benefactors can make a farce of fair play. UEFA are trying, but then will Abramovitch and Mansour fall into line? I doubt it!

On the other hand, there are quite a few footballers out there, who contrary to the usual myths are intelligent and have made enough money to go where they please. I think and very much hope that we see a lot more upsets like Swansea at Chelsea in the future.

As today’s football draws to a close, it looks like nothing can stop Manchester City winning the Premier League Title. It just shows how unfair it is when those with the money always win.

The only hope is that the UEFA Financial Fair Play Rules bring a degree of discipline. These rules, incidentally, may hit Spain worse than anybody else, if the practices of Spanish clubs, I outlined here are stopped.

About This Blog

What this blog will eventually be about I do not know.

But it will be about how I’m coping with the loss of my wife and son to cancer in recent years and how I manage with being a coeliac and recovering from a stroke. It will be about travel, sport, engineering, food, art, computers, large projects and London, that are some of the passions that fill my life.

And hopefully, it will get rid of the lonely times, from which I still suffer.